Former Detroit ‘Hip Hop’ Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Sentenced to 28 Years in Federal Prison
Once known as the hip hop mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced today to 28 years in federal prison for racketeering and other related charges. Kilpatrick was visibly shaken after the sentence as evidenced when a prong of reporters asked him whether or not he was remorseful because of his crime; his only reactions to the questions was “no comment.”
Before he was sentenced, Kilpatrick apologized in court Thursday morning.
“I say with every morsel of my being that I’m sorry to you,” he said.
Judge Nancy G. Edmunds noted the apology and said that he was showing “more awareness than I have seen along the way.”
But she said “a long prison sentence is necessary to insulate the public from his behavior.”
“That way of business is over. We’re done. We’re moving forward,” she said.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Kilpatrick ran a criminal enterprise through the mayor’s office to enrich himself through bid rigging and extortion, and using nonprofit funds for personal gain.
He will have to surrender next month to began serving his sentence.
Source: CNN
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